2023 Line Vision 108

As one of the lighter and more playful of the freeride skis that Line has going on these days, the 2023 Vision 108 is one of the funnest of the bunch. Line’s all about making fun-loving freeride skis, and the Vision series, more specifically the Vision 108, is a great floater, super-playful, and surprisingly stable for all types of conditions and terrain. The softer the better, though, thanks to the lighter weight and more flexible nature of the ski. In the 183 cm length, these skis generate a 19.5-meter turn radius and tip the scales at a pretty paltry 1605 grams per ski.

This certainly opens up the potential for a touring application and a hybrid binding, as these Visions are not limited to either resort or backcountry skiing. You can do it all on these things, built with Line’s Partly Cloudy core consisting of a blend of paulownia and maple, the Vision 108 also benefits from a mixture of carbon, fiberglass, and aramid laminates that’s found on top of the wood core. This blend of materials works very well in generating a good amount of energy even in a lighter ski. We’ve seen the benefits of carbon and aramid in skis in the past, and it works quite well in the Vision 108.

Bob St.Pierre got to ski the 183, noting that it “felt a little short due to the weight. I’d take the 189 if given a choice for sure.” That said, he still gave it high marks of 5 out of 5 for flotation, playfulness, forgiveness, and overall impression. 4’s for stability, quickness, maneuverability, and versatility all show the high value of the ski in Bob’s experience. “I was way more impressed with this ski than I thought I’d be. Having just held the Vision 98 in my hand in past years, I was expecting the 108 just to be a wider version of the featherish 98. The added material in the 108 makes it a different ski for sure. I thought it turned great, and we were fortunate enough to have some fresh snow on our test day, which made the experience all the better. It’s super-drifty and a ton of fun when you have it at lower edge angles, but when you get it up on edge, it actually comes around quite nicely. You do have to be prepared for a softer-flexing ski than you’re used to, so for someone like me at 225 pounds, I have to tread a bit lightly, not really forcing my way through the tips and tails.”

With a width-appropriate rocker profile that’s great for flotation and smearing turns, the Line Vision 108 is the epitome of what a modern freeride ski should be all about. It still leans to the directional side of the spectrum, so it’s not quite a true twin tip in the freestyle sense of the word, but it certainly holds its own in terms of that playful style of skiing. The weight and the build combine to make this ski a formidable opponent when it comes to soft snow skiing and versatility.